Wednesday, March 10, 2010

News Herald Forum on NYTimes Article

"it is perhaps more of a real estate project than an effort to address a pressing transportation problem"

Believe me, in Florida, it's always a land deal.

NYT did quote me:“It’s been oversold, underdesigned, undermanaged and now botched as a construction project,” said Mr. Hodges, who lives in Bay County. “They’ve got layers of construction experts who have not been able to deliver on what layers of planning experts promised.”

To be fair, they quoted others too. You decide:

Britt Greene, St. Joe:“Silicon Valley at one point was out in the middle of nowhere, We think we can do the same.”“Tourism will grow as a result of Southwest connecting us to the rest of the nation,” he said. “Our new dominant strategy is economic development and job growth.”

Bob Montgomery, Southwest:“Our job, and our challenge, is to build a market — a market that heretofore has not existed,”

Ben Longstreth, Natural Resources Defense Council:“Unfortunately, a lot of what we were concerned about has come to pass,” Filling all these wetlands we thought and continue to think really jeopardizes the health of the ecosystem in West Bay — for an airport that was entirely unnecessary.”“What we had wanted them to do was create a written document where they legally put the land in a conservation trust though an easement,” “They also could give it to an entity like the Nature Conservancy, but none of that has been done. It’s simply protected by the creation of a county plan that could be changed at any point.”

And finally Randy Curtis:“Once the airport is completed and constructed, you’ll actually have a net environmental improvement in the area,”